House With A Black Door
by Luchia13
Summary: A letter from Duo to Heero, with rent involved. Tad bit angsty. 1x2, 3x4, but only mentioned, really. One-shot.


One-shot(?) warning, although it might change to two-shot...Wow, that's a strange phrase. I'm going to use that more often.  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing.  
  
Ummm... my normal warnings (1x2, 3x4), a little bit of profanity, and this is a tad bit angsty. If you're wondering, this came from seven days in a car staring at NOTHING, being absolutely bored, and wondering, 'What kind of house would Duo Maxwell live in?' (And yes, I already know I'm strange.) So, without further ado, here's the story.  
  
House With a Black Door  
  
Heero,  
  
I've been wanting to write you for a while, now. Actually, ever since I last saw you. I can barely believe it's already been a year.  
  
I live on L2 again, but you already knew that. Wufei lives a few blocks away, and he seems to get less annoyed with me every day. He even calls me Duo now, not just "Maxwell", or "baka". It's probably because of my cooking, since he's living off that and take-out. He's a horrible cook. Everything he makes tastes like raw potato coated in maple syrup. It's actually an interesting taste. You should try it some time.  
  
Quatre and Trowa are still living together in one of Quat's big mansions. They come visit every now and then. Yesterday, Q was dropping hints they were going to adopt a kid pretty soon. That's kinda twisted, isn't it? Two gay ex-terrorist soldiers with a little kid running around. They'd probably be great parents, though. Not that I'm the authority on parents, or anything. I mean, come on. We both know my past, right?  
  
My house is actually pretty close to where the Maxwell church used to be. Now it's a parking lot, but it still makes me feel good to be nearby. I put flowers where the altar used to be once, and the next day they'd been run over probably seven times. It's kind of funny, how I'm just fine with that. I guess I've gotten used to being alone.  
  
I was honestly thinking of getting a dog or a cat or something once, but then I remembered how much I like being able to actually have money.  
  
My job's pretty simple. I'm a mechanic, and a damn good one at that. But, that's my day job. At night, I do two things. First, I go to school. I'll be graduating in a couple of months actually, and then I'll maybe go to college. Then, I do my other job, which is thief. A guy's got to make a living, after all. That's the money I use for school. It's actually kind of ironic, since half my income's from the school's faculty alone. There's rumors going around of mice slipping into lockers and offices to steal money. It's things like that make me wonder why they have a diploma and I don't.  
  
I know your job, of course. Being an infamous hacker is kind of hard to keep out of the limelight, after all. I bet Wufei's pretty uptight about that. He's a cop now, if you didn't know. It's funny, a cop surviving off a thief/mechanic's cooking. Trowa's still a clown, and Quat's just Quatre the Billionaire Businessman.  
  
Seems like we're the only ones that are stuck in the past, huh?  
  
You know, I never thought I'd end up like this. Eighteen, with my own house, and alone. Honestly, I thought I'd be dead by now. Probably killed in battle, or maybe just by you or Wufei. Nah, I'm just kidding.  
  
I heard Relena's engaged to some guy from South America. I'll admit, I kind of wish she'd die an old crone. She's always pissed me off by just being herself. I bet it was worse for you, huh?  
  
I remember what you told me about her, that second night. That she was just like an innocent cross between a dog and a sister to you. That you pitied her, and knew she pitied you. She still does, probably. She always pitied the fighters. I guess that's what's always pissed me off about her, how she felt like she had the right to pity us. Damn pacifists.  
  
Hilde died three months ago, in a car accident. You didn't come to the funeral, but that's okay. Not many people did. Just the surviving OZ crew and us gundam boys, really. Not even her family came. I think she had a family...I hope she did, at least. She was my landlady, believe it or not. And now, my rent's double the price. That's what you get for getting in business with friends, I guess.  
  
And no, we never dated. I know you're wondering, and the answer is no. There's only ever been one person for me, and you know it. You'd better know it, or you really are an idiot...  
  
My house was yellow when I got it. It's small, with one bedroom, two bathrooms, a living room, and a kitchen. I have a patio, though. It's a dirty, cracked patio, but a back patio no matter how you look at it. A yellow house with a blue door has never entirely appealed to me, though, so I painted the whole thing black. It took way too much paint, but I finally did it. I was proud of myself, too. Hilde just shook her head at me.  
  
When she died, though, the new landlady was furious. Apparently all-black houses are taboo. Go figure. She demanded I paint it. I said I already had. She doubled my rent, and I painted.  
  
But, being the pain in the ass I am, I painted it blood red, and she couldn't say a damn thing. I kept the door black, though, and the trim and shutters black. The woman was furious, but all she could do was glare at me. And after your glare for two years, hers wasn't worth shit.  
  
The rent, though, is one of what's killing me. I have to pay a third more than anyone else on the block, just because my house wasn't "civilized" like she wanted it. Everyone else has pastels or earth tones. Mine sticks out like a flower in toothpicks. I don't have the money, with paying for school (and I'm two months away from my diploma, and I am not about to give up because of some bitch's preferred color scheme), and I don't have the time for a third job. I only get five hours of sleep already.  
  
I think about you all the time. When I'm awake, when I'm asleep, when I'm zoning out...you're just a pain sometimes. I wish I could move on. That's why we left, wasn't it? We needed to get away from the past, but all I do is wonder, what if we hadn't split? The nightmares aren't of the war anymore. They're of you. You, with someone else I can deal with, but you, dead, I just wake up from screaming. I've seen you half dead, but completely dead...it kills me too.  
  
I'm thinking of building a green fence around my house, if I get the money.  
  
I miss you so much. I know we said at least two years...I remember everything. If you've moved on, just tell me, and I'll try to too. My life's hell without you. And yes, I remember how awful it was when we WERE together, but that's nothing compared to my life now.  
  
So, I'll cut to the chase. I'm still madly in love with you. I have a house, but I can't pay for it by myself, and there's no way in hell I'm asking for charity. I really, really want you to come live with me, since you could do your job anywhere in the galaxy as long as it had an internet connection (which my house does), and hey, I need the money, although that is NOT the reason I'm asking. I'll be quick, now. After all, there's really only one question you have to ask yourself.  
  
Have you ever wanted to live in a house with a black door?  
  
Forever yours,  
  
Duo  
  
-----  
  
A/N: The end. Please tell me what you think. I just wanted to put something up after my vacation, really, and I just can't do songfics for the life of me, so this seemed appropriate. (And no, I don't hate Hilde, if you're wondering.) Please review! 


End file.
